Bonjour à tous,
No, you are not dreaming, it's true: today we enjoy another installment in our ongoing series: Better know a Département!! It is our pleasure to introduce you to Ain, also known as: Department 1.
Comme d'habitude, Ain is another department that comes from the French Revolution, organized in 1790. And, to be honest, though I made a big deal of the number "one" in the title, it really means nothing. Remember, the departments are simply numbered for simplicity's sake. There is nothing about superiority or inferiority going on here.
Still, Ain is a department rich in history. It cont
ains the menhir of Simandre-sur-Suran, which dates back to 15,000 B.C. (if "menhir" doesn't mean anything to you, go read an Astérix comic. And yes, that is Astérix, not asterisk. The first is a comic about a little Gaul who beats up Romans after drinking his potion--kind of like in the old Gummi Bears cartoon from the late 1980s to the early 1990s--the later is this thing: *. Got it?). It's where Julius Caesar started his invasion on the Helvetians, a group he wrote a great deal about in his record of the Gallic Wars (I recommend reading it in the original Latin, or if you have to read it in English, at least get a LOEB translation; they do great work). It has several beautiful castles from the 12th-century that demonstrate romantic architecture. And, like so many parts of our beloved France, Ain changed hands politically over the centuries as France slowly evolved in the nation it is today. Unfortunately, much of the history here was destroyed during the Revolution. To c
ontinue on with the sadness, about 600 people were deported from this department during the Second World War; 300 of them never came back.Well ... didn't that paragraph end cheery?
Today, however, things are great, and else would you expect from department "number one"? It has to be superior with that number. The population here has been skyrocketing, and no,no, it's not because of that--not adoption. I know, you'd think so, but that's not the case. It's because of immigrants since this is such a good place to live! Ain is highly industrialized, and as such there are a lot of jobs. Also, VERY good transportation here. Plenty of buses and trains coming through.
Though the number one is arbitrary, and we shouldn't think this department any more special for being department one, I do think the beauty of this departments speaks for itself. As such, I've includ
ed a number of photos for your viewing pleasure (the church, the Prefecture, and a nice little rural spot of the department). So next time you're near by, don't forget to drop in on department number one! Ain!After all, number one has to mean cool, right? And, the coat of arms ... pre
tty sweet.
